Letter to parents

The University Women’s Club of Montreal Inc. (UWCM) is proud to spearhead the second edition of the North American school competition Les Olympes de la Parole .

The Olympes de la Parole is a school competition open to secondary school girls. It uses a human-rights approach to reflect on the central theme of gender equality.

If your daughter is a student in Secondary 4 or 5, then she might have been invited to participate in this competition.

The 2018-2019 Olympes de la Parole competition offers participants:

A platform to add their voices to the global discussion on gender equality

An opportunity to influence gender-responsive policies

Another collaborative opportunity to develop and strengthen critical thinking about the impact of poverty on the empowerment of women and the development of the child in Canada.

The possibility to be among three scholarship winners (first prize $2,000, second prize $1,500, and third prize $1,000)

The viewing of winning video productions by thousands of CFUW members, shared through UWCM and CFUW social-media sites, and used to promote gender equality

A certificate to honour the volunteer hours invested in the competition

Participants in this competition are required to:

Work in a team organized by their schools

Follow the competition rules

Present their results as a written report, an oral presentation, and a video presentation to a review panel

Present their work to the public (if they are winners) during the award ceremony in May 2019 where the media, policy-makers, educators and politicians will be invited to attend

Results of their work will be shared; nationally with the Eight-Thousand-member network Canadian Federation of University Women and internationally, through Graduate Women International headquartered in Geneva, and all of their 74 affiliate federation countries.

Scholarships will be awarded to the 3 best projects; each participant will be honoured with a certificate attesting to the community hours involved in this competition.

First place winners will be awarded The Anne-Marie Trahan’s scholarship.

ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY WOMEN’S CLUB OF MONTREAL (UWCM)

UWCM was founded in 1927 by university graduate women involved in the promotion of quality education for girls and women in Montreal. The UWCM Foundation raises funds for scholarships to university and college female students in Montreal and to Indigenous girls and women at all academic levels.

UWCM is a member of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW), a non-partisan, voluntary, self-funded organization with over 100 clubs and 8,000 members, located in every province across Canada. Since its founding in 1919, CFUW has been working to improve the status of women and girls, to promote human rights, public education, social justice, and peace. CFUW has special consultative status at the United Nations and is represented at the Canadian Commission for UNESCO.

CFUW is the largest affiliate of Graduate Women International (GWI), a non- governmental organization located in Geneva, whose main purpose is the advocacy for girls and women’s rights worldwide.

CFUW is also an affiliate member of the International Alliance of Women

Due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic restrictions – and doing our part to “flatten the curve” – all scheduled in-person events have been suspended. Our May 20 AGM will take place virtually. Details will come later. Please stay home, practice social distancing, and refer to government directives.